Incorporating participatory methods can make research more meaningful to the people it seeks to serve. It can also enrich research by generating new questions, suggesting further analyses, uncovering important lessons and considerations, and clearly and accessibly disseminating the findings to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the individuals and communities most directly affected by the research.

The research team will work with individuals with lived experience in the justice system to contribute to a participatory action research-informed approach, with the goal of understanding how the impacts and policy changes uncovered translate into the human experience—including implications for well-being, health, and mental health.